Raiders Start With a Victory

Kurt Warner can spread the warning to the rest of the NFL’s quarterbacks: Charles Woodson is healthy and ready to play.

Woodson intercepted Warner on the St. Louis Rams’ first series, and Madre Hill rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown as the Oakland Raiders won, 7-6, Friday night at Oakland in the exhibition opener for both teams.

Kirk Farmer, the Rams’ fourth-string quarterback, threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Cam Cleeland with 6:13 left, but the extra point was blocked by Shurron Pierson.

Woodson missed the Pro Bowl last winter for the first time in his five NFL seasons after injuring his shoulder and leg.

The injuries kept Woodson out of eight regular-season games and forced him to play at half-strength in the playoffs.

On St. Louis’ opening drive, Warner missed his target -- and Woodson alertly changed his coverage to make the interception, returning it 15 yards.

“It felt good,” Woodson said of his first game this summer. “It’s the time of the season where everybody is ready for football. Any time you get a chance to get your hands on the ball, it feels good.”

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Brad Johnson and Shaun King took turns directing a Tampa Bay offense that totaled 134 yards in the opening quarter against Miami’s first-team defense and helped the Buccaneers to a 20-19 exhibition victory over the Dolphins at Miami.

Johnson directed a 45-yard touchdown drive following a turnover, and King led a 14-play, 74-yard touchdown march. Michael Pittman scored for Tampa Bay on a six-yard run, and Joe Jurevicius caught a five-yard touchdown pass from King.

Third-string quarterback Sage Rosenfels drove Miami 80 yards for a touchdown with 23 seconds left, but his two-point conversion pass was incomplete.

Quarterback Brian Griese started in his Dolphin debut and completed six of eight passes for 45 yards.

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Tight end Jeremy Shockey of the New York Giants is quoted in a magazine as calling Coach Bill Parcells of the Dallas Cowboys a “homo,” but he insists someone else made the remark.

In next week’s New York magazine, Shockey criticizes Parcells for comments he was told the coach made about him on TV.

Shockey didn’t want to comment “on something that’s just not true,” he told the New York Daily News after the Giants lost an exhibition game in Foxboro, Mass., on Thursday night.

New York magazine spokeswoman Serena Torrey said the magazine stands by the story and the reporting by writer Chris Smith.

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Center Al Johnson, the Dallas Cowboys’ second-round draft choice and a projected starter, is expected to sit out the season after right knee surgery.

After an exploratory arthroscopic procedure revealed significant degeneration of the cartilage in the knee, more extensive surgery was done to repair it, the team said.

Johnson was hurt last weekend during a practice with the Houston Texans. It was initially diagnosed as a twisted knee, and the team hoped he would be able to play without surgery.